Printed circuit boards (PCB) are key components in almost any application in the electronic industry. Yet, as manufactured, this component of an electronic or electrical system has no counterfeit protection and cannot be easily recognized automatically. As a result, barcodes are often used to identify a PCB. Generally, the barcodes are etched into the surface of the PCB or attached to the surface of the PCB with as a barcode sticker. However, the etched barcodes require significant space on the PCB and the sticker barcodes must be attached manually to the surface of the PCBs and can therefore be easily tampered with and/or removed.
As a result, the barcodes often fail to last through the entire life of the PCB without being removed or otherwise damaged such that the PCBs can no longer be adequately identified. As an alternative, some companies have turned to utilizing radio frequency identification (RFID) tags instead of barcodes. In order to achieve this, the companies add the tag to the other components on their PCB. Specifically, an RFID chip of the tag is coupled to the surface of the PCB via conductive adhesive or soldering and an antenna of the tag is printed on the surface of the RFID chip. However, like the barcodes, these RFID tags are able to be damaged and/or removed and thus tend to fail during the lifetime of the PCB.